00:09 It also happens to be the name of a famous surrealist artist who was active in the 21st century.

Question 2:

00:20 The MIRO Instrument measures the radio waves that the comet and all bodies actually naturally give off

00:28 and from this information we learn about the composition, the temperature and the velocity of the gases that are coming off the comet

00:39 We can also study the temperature and properties of the solid nucleus, which is the core of the comet and we’re sensitive to this below the surface maybe from a millimeter to 10 centimeters beneath the surface.

Question 3: Why is this information important for the rosetta mission?

01:00 We think that comets are left over from the formation of our solar system.

01:05 The planets we see today were built up from smaller pieces like comets crashing together

01:11 and sticking together over millions of years and forming something big

01:15 So by looking at the composition and structure of comets today, we hope to learn about the building blocks

01:22 and the processes that formed the planet that we live on and see around us

Question 4: How does the MIRO data compare to VIRTIS data?

01:33 The MIRO Instrument using radio waves is sensitive to properties of the nucleus beneath the surface maybe down to roughly 10 centimeters

01:43 an instrument working at infrared wavelengths like VIRTIS which is also on the rosetta orbiter,

01:48 it’s sensitive to the very top of the nucleus surface

01:53 so comets are very complicated there s a lot of things going on there are things changing

01:58 so by combining both instruments we get the best picture of what’s going on and by

02:04 combining virtis and miro for exampke we can study the temperature and structure

02:09 of the nucleus from the surface down ten or twenty centimeters and we can look for changes in the nucleus.

Question 4: How does MIRO work?

02:22 The MIRO instrument measures radio waves that the comet naturally gives off

02:28 So a lot of people are surprised by that but it turns out that all normal matter,

02:33 everything you see around you gives off radio waves. Your body, a chair, even the sky

2:40 gives off radio waves that a sensitive receiver can pick up

2:46 In understanding how MIRO works there’s just two other things you may want to keep in mind.

2:50 One is something called the electromagnetic spectrum that’s a big word but all it means is it’s a wave,

2:59 an oscillation of electric and magnetic fields like light.

3:03 We’re all comfortable with light and light has different colors like blue green yellow red,

3:08 light is an electromagnetic wave but your eye is not sensitive to all possible colors of light

03:16 There are colors with longer and shorter wavelengths than your eyes can see

03:21 So for example just beyond the red where your eye is not very sensitive getting to longer wavelengths is something we call infrared

03:31 when you go even longer maybe wavelengths of millimeters to centimeters tens of centimeters we call these radio waves

03:40 So radio waves are just like infrared waves just like visible light waves, they just have different frequencies

03:47 and our eye is not sensitive to all of them.

3:50 Another thing to keep in mind that you are probably familiar with is the idea

3:56 that the amount of energy something gives off depends on its temperature.

4:02 Why do I think that you are familiar with this? Imagine a fireplace poker that's

4:05 just sitting beside the fireplace and its cool, and it just has this metal grey color.

4:13 If you stick it in the fire and it starts to heat up, it will start to glow red. If it

4:18 keeps getting hotter and hotter it will eventually glow white hot. so by

4:25 looking at the amount of energy that fireplace poker is giving off and

4:29 it's color, you learn soothing about the temperature. So I said before

4:34 that radio waves are just like light waves and it is the same kind of idea.

4:39 The amount of radio energy something gives off is sensitive to its temperature

4:43 primarily, but also its composition. And so a very fine measurement of the

4:49 radio energy tells us the temperature and composition of the thing we are